Monday, 30 May 2011

in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, a retirement home for British soldiers ...

These are the Chelsea Pensioners, in dashing scarlet coats and tricorne hats ...

... some, like the old gent below, impressively bemedalled ...

On Friday I joined a crowd of thousands thronging their way down these tree-lined avenues ...

all suitably dressed for a typical British early summer's day!

The show gets a limited capacity of (advance-booking-only) 157 000 people every year. On Friday I wondered if they'd all somehow been booked for the same day. Talk about crowds - it was elbows-out and umbrellas en-garde ...

Some came dressed with a due sense of occasion ...

That's the spirit! These bags were a sort of uniform, for show guides and purchases ...

The Great Pavilion is the main destination, where exhibitors vie for medals. Here there were massed displays of single flowers ...

exotic orchid water-gardens

succulents ...

(this one especially for you, Nicola!)

Themed displays ...

Waitrose and the NFU's (the British farmers' union) stand, 'Championing British', mixed plants and produce

Helen looks thrilled with having a new variety of a carniverous pitcher plant named after her

The country display that really blew me away was 'Fantastic Thailand' ...

It was impossible to do justice with my camera to the size of this massive display because of the crowds jostling around it ... these are just some details, above and below. Everything is constructed from millions of tiny flowers, banana leaf and bamboo. A smiling Thai lady told me it took 60 people 3 months to put together before it was transported in pieces to London ...

There was even floral fashion - Charlotte Murrant used exotic flowers to create a range of wonderful jackets ...

In the vast open-air space around the Great Pavilion were more exhibits and landscaped gardens than you could hope to cover in one day, and garden accessories to suit every imaginable taste. You could go whimsical with an Alice in Wonderland theme ...

No-one does elegant conservatories and garden gazebos quite as well as the English ...

though I also love their country cottage garden look - ramshackle huts, untamed flowers and the quintessentially English potting shed ...

In similar vein, and in the spirit of the royal wedding, was this vintage Morris Minor with retro accessories and a copy of the Aston Martin licence plate made by Prince Harry for the newly-weds ...

A highlight of this year's show was Diarmuid Gavin's Irish Sky Garden. Suspended from this giant crane ...

you could be lifted up above the trees in a hanging sky garden for an aerial view of the show and London ...

No, I did not join the long queue for a swing in the sky ... I was all flowered out by now. Time to leave, and although rickshaws were doing brisk business between the show and the tube station, I joined the legions of those on foot, many carrying their purchases ...

some carrying only the accessories of a well-heeled Chelsea gent - rolled-up newspaper, trilby and umbrella ...

maybe pausing for a pit-stop at a pub ...?

on the way back to Sloane Square, all leafy green ...

where the shop windows were fully into the spirit of the flower show and I spotted this cute little grass-covered Smart car ...

Now I know just what to wear for next year, and how to arrive in style ...